This painting circa 1657 by one of the great masters of the Golden Age of Dutch painting, Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675), hangs in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. At first superficial glance it may seem quite ordinary and commonplace, merely a somewhat haphazard scene of a little street in Delft. But soon one detects a secret beauty in it. Vermeer has a special gift for giving us a glimpse of beauty in a fleeting moment of everyday life, thus almost imperceptibly linking time to eternity.
Obviously I have been focusing in these columns on sacred art, since through that powerful medium we discover more fully the unimaginable depth and richness of our religion. Still true beauty is always a witness mirroring a fragment of the divine.1 This painting, though not explicitly religious, is nevertheless embedded in God’s world. It exudes peace and serenity. It makes us aware that peace comes from humility. Not exalted, this art is unpretentious, as well as very original.
We see two women performing their daily chores. Apparently one has been sweeping, now washing, the other sewing, and two children are engrossed in their play. There are delightful miniature paintings within this painting, one of the woman in the courtyard with the doorway acting as a frame, the other of the woman mending or embroidering in another doorway.
The aged, cracked bricks of the houses in a warm russet brown have a special texture, the shutters add vivid touches of color, vines grow on the house on the left, the high façade and walls form a quiet enclosure. It is all suffused with a subtle enchantment.
The brick buildings are old and weathered, even a bit shabby, but venerable. There is a connection with tradition in them. The work these women do is not some grand scheme of tearing down or structural remodeling. They have reverence for the ancient character of the buildings which have a past full of human stories of ancestors who have lived in them. The cluster of houses suggests a whole community of families. The buildings are not beautiful mansions, but they do have individuality and character. Nor are they block houses (Bauhaus style), rather they have a sweet quaintness and charm about them. The roof tops in the distance and the sky in the upper corner lift our eyes to the beyond and the wider vista. The whole has an understated intangible beauty.
These women are doing small chores, a loving work of bringing about orderliness, neatness and cleanliness: little deeds of love toward their families for the sake of bringing tranquility and contentment to them. Far from the dissatisfaction driving our modern frantic consumerism, they live in frugal simplicity, making do with the little they have. Out of their poverty they are making a home, a secure haven for their children, who can then be entranced in their play.
Rather than mere time-bound, oldfashioned charm, this painting discloses something deeper and more timeless. Women can create an atmosphere of love and harmony. Their influence on society is incalculable. Doing these humble tasks links them to a whole world—hinted at in this painting—of silent contemplation that is almost monastic. In the very act of working they are glorifying God and bringing charity to their families. Thus the lowly becomes a springboard for the heavenly. Prose turns into poetry.
It illustrates women’s vocation of civilizing our world. In their hidden way they are building up the body of Christ. In this selfless serving, which includes real sacrifice, these women are performing the thousand little tasks that form a whole Christian civilization. This work done with love and full attention in everyday life reminds us of the teaching of St. Josemaría Escrivá who said that in doing our work to the best of our ability we can actually meet our loving Father, and so can attain holiness. In a homily he added: “There is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it [2].”
The Little Street is a perfect illustration.
[1]“Art . . . is like a door opened to the infinite—to a beauty, and truth that goes beyond the everyday.” Benedict XVI, Beauty As A Way To God, General Audience, Castel Gondolfo, August 31, 2011.
[2] St. Josemaría Escrivá, Passionately Loving The World, a homily delivered at a Mass celebrated at the University of Navarre, October 1967, (New York: Scepter, 2002), p.5.
Madeleine Stebbins is the wife of CUF founder H. Lyman Stebbins. She served as CUF president from 1981–84.
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